The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

Vatican City, 18 May 2015 (VIS) - “I
am giving you a mission: pray to the two new saints for peace in your
land, so that there may be an end to this interminable war, and to
bring peace among peoples”, said Pope Francis this morning as he
received in audience the Carmelite Sisters of Bethlehem and the
Middle East and the Sisters of the Rosary, in Rome to attend the
canonisation of Mary of Jesus Crucified and Marie-Alphonsine Danil
Ghattas.

“Pray too for Christians who are
persecuted, driven away from their homes and their land, and victims
of 'white-gloved' persecution, hidden but present: white-gloved
persecution and terrorism. Keep praying for peace”.

The Holy Father, who greeted the women
religious during an interval in his meeting with the heads of the
dicasteries of the Roman Curia, invited them all to pray a Hail Mary,
each in her own language.

Vatican City, 17 May 2015 (VIS) - “Each
one of Christ’s followers is called to become a witness to His
resurrection, above all in those human settings where forgetfulness
of God and human disorientation are most evident”, said the Pope in
the homily he pronounced during the Mass for the canonisation of four
new saints: Jeanne-Emilie de Villeneuve (1811-1854), French nun and
founder of the Congregation of the Sisters of the Immaculate
Conception of Castres; Maria Cristina of the Immaculate Conception
(nee Maria Cristina Brando, 1856-1906), Italian nun and founder of
the Oblation Sisters of the Holy Sacrament; Marie-Alphonsine Danil
Ghattas (nee Maryam Sultanah, 1843-1927), Palestinian co-founder of
the Congregation of the Sisters of the Holy Rosary of Jerusalem; and
Mary of Jesus Crucified (nee Maryam Baouardy 1846-1878) Palestinian
nun of the Order of Discalced Carmelites. The solemn ceremony, which
took place in a packed St. Peter's Square, was attended by more than
two thousand Christians from the Middle East, the Palestinian
president Mahmoud Abbas, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem Fouad Twal,
and an Israeli delegation whom the Pope greeted at the end of the
celebration.

In his homily, the Holy Father, citing
the Acts of the Apostles, recalls that their mission of announcing
Jesus, of whose resurrection they were eyewitnesses, was a community
rather than an individual undertaking. Thanks to the witness of the
Twelve, many people came to believe; from faith in the risen Lord,
Christian communities were born and are born continually. “We too,
today, base our faith in the risen Lord on the witness of the
Apostles, which has come down to us through the mission of the
Church”, he said. “Our faith is firmly linked to their testimony,
as to an unbroken chain which spans the centuries, made up not only
by the successors of the Apostles, but also by succeeding generations
of Christians. Like the Apostles, each one of Christ’s followers is
called to become a witness to His resurrection, above all in those
human settings where forgetfulness of God and human disorientation
are most evident”.

For this to happen, “we need to abide
in the risen Christ and in His love, ... like Sister Jeanne Emilie de
Villeneuve, who consecrated her life to God and to the poor, the
sick, the imprisoned and the exploited, becoming for them and for all
a concrete sign of the Lord’s merciful love”. This same love
conquered another of the new saints, Sister Maria Cristina Brando,
who “from prayer and her intimate encounter with the risen Jesus
present in the Eucharist received strength to endure suffering and to
give herself, as bread which is broken, to many people who had
wandered far from God and yet hungered for authentic love”.

Another essential aspect of witness to
the risen Lord is unity among His disciples, in the image of His own
unity with the Father. “From this eternal love between the Father
and the Son, poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, our
mission and our fraternal communion draw strength; this love is the
ever-flowing source of our joy in following the Lord along the path
of His poverty, His virginity and His obedience; and this same love
calls us to cultivate contemplative prayer”. This was the love that
Sister Mariam Baouardy experienced: “poor and uneducated, she was
able to counsel others and provide theological explanations with
extreme clarity, the fruit of her constant dialogue with the Holy
Spirit. Her docility to the Holy Spirit also made her a means of
encounter and fellowship with the Muslim world”. So too, Sister
Marie-Alphonsine Danil Ghattas “came to understand clearly what it
means to radiate the love of God in the apostolate, and to be a
witness to meekness and unity. She shows us the importance of
becoming responsible for one another, of living lives of service one
to another”.

The “luminous example” of the four
new saints, who abide in God and in His love, inspires us, in our
lives as Christians, “to proclaim by our words and our lives the
resurrection of Jesus, to live in unity with one another and with
charity towards all”, concluded Pope Francis.

Vatican City, 17 May 2015 (VIS) –
Following the Mass for canonisation and before praying the Regina
Coeli, the Pope greeted all those present in St. Peter's Square to
pay homage to the four new saints, and in particular the official
delegations from Palestine, France, Italy, Israel and Jordan. “May
their intercession renew the missionary impulse in their countries of
origin. Inspired by their example of mercy, charity and
reconciliation, may the Christians of these lands look with hope to
the future, continuing their path of solidarity and fraternal
co-existence”.

He also addressed the faithful of the
Czech Republic, gathered today in the shrine of Svaty Kopecek to
commemorate the twentieth anniversary of St. John Paul II's visit. He
also noted that yesterday in Venice, Italy, the priest Luigi
Carburlotto was proclaimed blessed. Founder of the Daughters of St.
Joseph, this “exemplary pastor … led an intense spiritual and
apostolic life, entirely dedicated to the good of souls”.

He concluded by inviting those present
“to pray for the dear people of Burundi, who are experiencing a
delicate moment. May the Lord help all to flee from violence and to
act responsibly for the good of the country”.

Vatican City, 16 May 2015 (VIS) –
Today the Holy Father Francis received in audience Mahmoud Abbas,
president of the State of Palestine, who subsequently met with
Cardinal Secretary of State Pietro Parolin, accompanied by Archbishop
Paul Richard Gallagher, secretary for Relations with States.
President Abbas will attend tomorrow’s canonisation of the two
Palestinian nuns, for which he thanked the Holy Father.

During the cordial discussions, great
satisfaction was expressed for the accord reached on the text of a
comprehensive Agreement between the Parties on various essential
aspects of the life and the activity of the Catholic Church in
Palestine, to be signed in the near future.

Attention then turned to the peace
process with Israel, and the hope was expressed that direct
negotiations between the Parties be resumed in order to find a just
and lasting solution to the conflict. To this end the wish was
reiterated that, with the support of the international Community,
Israelis and Palestinians may take with determination courageous
decisions to promote peace. Finally, with reference to the conflicts
that afflict the Middle East, and in reaffirming the importance of
combating terrorism, the need for interreligious dialogue was
underlined.

Vatican City, 16 May 2015 (VIS) –
Thousands of men and women religious from Rome – representing the
25 thousand who belong to the Pope's diocese – gathered in the
Vatican's Paul VI Hall this morning to meet with the Holy Father, who
spoke with them for over an hour, answering all their questions on
consecrated life and its difficulties and joys, the relationship
between the bearers of different charisms in the Church, and the
rapport between cloistered monasteries and the outside world.

The first question, asked by a nun,
related to the balance between cloistered life and involvement in
diocesan life, and between silent prayer and proclamation.

“Your vocation is a tension between
enclosure and visibility, between God's call to a hidden life and His
call to make oneself visible in a certain way, to give a sign”,
answered the Pope. “One of the things you must never, ever leave
behind is time to listen to people. … It is important to have a
connection with the world, to know what is happening, as your
vocation is not a refuge: it is about going straight onto the
battlefield, it is about fighting, calling to the heart of the Lord
for your city. … Like Moses who lifted his hands up in prayer as
his people fought. There are also monasteries that set aside half an
hour or an hour a day to give food to those who come to ask for it,
and this does not go against enclosure in God. … It is a service,
it is a smile”.

The second question, again from a
religious sister, concerned the similarities between marriage and
consecrated virginity in the vocation to love, and the help that
consecrated persons can offer Christian spouses and vice versa.

“In female consecration there is a
spousal element”, said Francis. “It is present in male
consecration too: we say that a bishop is the spouse of the Church,
in Jesus' place. But do not forget that the Church is feminine: she
is Jesus' bride. We often forget this, as we forget that the love of
nuns is maternal, since the love of the Church is maternal, and the
love of Our Lady is maternal. Faithfulness, the expression of the
love of the consecrated woman, should – not as a duty but as a
natural characteristic – reflect the faithfulness, love and
tenderness of the Mother Church and the Mother Mary. … It is the
concrete love … that we find in the Beatitudes. … Jesus' plan is
concrete. I often think that the Beatitudes are the Church's first
encyclical”.

The third question, from a monk, was
dedicated to the concrete collaboration between bearers of different
charisms in the local Church, without friction or competition.

“The Church is currently thinking of
offering and restoring an old document on the relations between
consecrated persons and the bishop”, the Holy Father explained.
“The 1994 Synod called for the document 'Mutuae relationes' (14 May
1978). Many years have passed and it has not been done. The
relationship between consecrated persons and the bishop, the diocese
and priests is not an easy one. However it is necessary to face this
task together. In the prefectures, how does one work on the pastoral
plan for this quarter, all together? So it should be in the Church
too. The bishop should not use consecrated persons as substitutes,
and equally the religious should not see the bishop as the head of a
company providing work”.

The last question regarded the
accompaniment and spiritual direction of consecrated persons, over
80% of whom are women.

“The accompaniment of men and women
religious can be a problem”, acknowledged the Pope. “In my former
diocese, I always said to the nuns who came to ask for advice, 'Tell
me, in your community or your congregation, is there not a wise
sister, one who lives the charism well, a good sister with
experience, who might be your spiritual guide?'. 'But she is a woman!
But it is a charism of the laity'. Yes, spiritual direction is not
the exclusive charism of presbyters: it is a charism of the laity. In
primitive monasticism the laity were the great directors. … The
spiritual director is one thing, the confessor is another. I tell the
confessor my sins … but I tell the spiritual director what is
happening in my heart. … Superiors have the responsibility of
finding those in the community, in the congregation, and in the
province, who have this charism, of giving them this mission and of
forming them and helping them in this. … I think that in this
respect, however, we are still immature”.

Vatican City, 16 May 2015 (VIS) –
This morning a press conference was held in the Holy See Press Office
for the presentation of the project “The Great Mystery: the Gospel
of the Family, school of humanity for our times”, promoted by the
Pontifical Council for the Family and by Maestro Andrea Bocelli. It
is a series of events, in particular light and sound shows, to take
place in different European cities during the year dedicated to
reflection on the family in view of the upcoming Synod assembly in
October. The speakers at the conference were Bishop Vincenzo Paglia,
president of the Pontifical Council for the Family, the tenor Andrea
Bocelli, and Cardinal Lluis Martinez Sistach, archbishop of
Barcelona, the first city to host the event in the Basilica of the
Sagrada Familia.

Cardinal Martinez Sistach recalled the
universal dimension of Barcelona's basilica, which is visited by more
than three million people every year, and its wealth of biblical,
theological and liturgical symbolism. He emphasised that the
initiative of the Pontifical Council, which will open during a time
dedicated to the holy family, will propose, through beauty, music and
thought, to “present the beauty and transcendence of the mystery of
the Christian family, which consists of an intimate community of life
and love between spouses and between parents, children, brothers and
sisters, in the bosom of a much larger family, in society and in the
Church. The great virtues and values of today's Christian family are
necessary and very urgent. We must not forget that Vatican Council
II, speaking of marriage and the family, tells us that the well-being
of people, society and the Church are strictly linked to the
prosperity of the conjugal and family communities”.

“The basilica of the Sagrada Familia
is a manifestation of the great mystery of God and man”, explained
the archbishop of Barcelona. “In our time, in which man attempts to
build a life without God, as if He had nothing to say to us, this
magnificent temple has great meaning. Gaudi, in his masterpiece,
shows us that God is the true measure of man. That the secret of his
authentic originality resides, as he himself said, in returning to
his origins, which are God. The basilica, in the middle of this great
city, a space of beauty, faith and hope, leads man to the encounter
with He Who is Truth and Beauty itself”.

- Archbishop Nicola Girasoli apostolic
nuncio in Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas,
Barbados, Dominica, Jamaica, Grenada, in the Co-operative Republic of
Guyana, St. Kitts and Nevis, Santa Lucia, St. Vincent and the
Grenadines, and Suriname; apostolic delegate in the Antilles;

- Jean-Baptiste de Franssu, president
of the Supervisory Board of the Institute for the Works of Religion.

Vatican City, 16 May 2015 (VIS) – The
Holy Father appointed Rev. Dariusz Buras as apostolic administrator
of Atyrau (area 747,600, population 2,395,000, Catholics 2,000,
priests 8, religious 4), Kazakhstan. Rev. Buras was born in
Skrzyszow, Poland in 1971 and was ordained a priest in 1998. He has
served as parish vicar of the Cathedral Church of Oslo and head of
continuing formation of the priests of the diocese of Tarnow, Poland
in service in Norway.